Source: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) – Publication date: January 2011
There are a number of potential opportunities associated with agricultural, food, and water nanotechnology for the poor, but to achieve such opportunities a number of challenges need to be overcome. This paper first provides a rapid assessment of key technologies that could have a large impact on the poor via increased agricultural productivity, improved food and water safety, and nutrition. Second, it reviews some of the main challenges to their deployment and adoption by the poor. It concludes with a discussion of the potential role of the CGIAR in facilitating the poor’s access to beneficial nanotechnologies.
Source: ETC Group – Publication date: November 2004
Over the next two decades, the impacts of nano-scale convergence on farmers and food will exceed that of farm mechanisation or of the Green Revolution. Converging technologies could reinvigorate the battered agrochemical and agbiotech industries, igniting a still more intense debate - this time over "atomically-modified" foods.
Nanotechnology is predicted to transform the entire food industry, changing the way food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, and consumed. This short report reviews the key aspects of these transformations, highlighting current research in the agrifood industry and what future impacts these may have.
Source: Friends of the Earth – Publication date: March 2008
This Friends of the Earth's report from March 2008 finds that untested nanotechnology is being used in more than 100 food products, food packaging and contact materials currently on the shelf, without warning or FDA testing.
Source: Food Safety Authority of Ireland – Publication date: September 2008
A report has been published by the FSAI on nanotechnology and its potential future applications in food production and food packaging. The report describes the likely benefits for both consumers and manufacturers from nanotechnology but cautions that there is a lack of knowledge about the effects of nanotechnology in the food chain. This knowledge gap needs to be addressed and food safety legislation needs to be strengthened to ensure that the health of Irish consumers is protected.